Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Ex-Guantanamo Prisoner Encourages Jihadists to Obey al-Baghdadi, Before Embarking on His Suicide Mission

I don’t have much time to fully examine Al-Furqan’s new 38 minute video, which was posted a couple of days ago on the Al-Ekhlaas jihadist internet forum (Arabic link, password protected) under the title ‘The State of Islam [Shall] Endure’—referring to the self-styled ‘Islamic State of Iraq’ that the 'Zarqawist'-wing of the jihadists declared on October 15, 2006.

There’s been a weird disconnect in jihadist propaganda from Iraq over the last six weeks or so. First of all, it has been reduced to a trickle and, while promptly doing so in the past, had failed to refute media reports concerning the fate and identity of its leaders; the head of state, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was identified as Hamid al-Zawi on May 7, 2008, while the Mosul Police claimed to have captured the ISI’s Minister of War, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir on May 9, 2008.

This new video is basically a compilation of several earlier speeches from al-Baghdadi and al-Muhajir, and it derives its title from a segment about the persistence and endurance of the Islamic State of Iraq that was made in al-Baghdadi’s fourth speech (April 16, 2007).

However, there is some new material, especially as it relates to details about the Iraqi government’s recent military campaign in Mosul—dubbed Operation ‘Umm Al-Rabi’ayn—and the voice narrating this stuff is not al-Muhajir’s, nor is it the ISI’s Mosul Spokesman, and I cannot tell for sure if it belongs to al-Baghdadi. But what’s clear is that the jihadists had been planning a big showdown in Mosul but either opted not to go through with it or they weren’t able to muster enough force.

The last part of the video showcases two Kuwaiti ‘martyrs’ and their operations: ‘Abu Omar al-Kuwaiti’ (identified elsewhere as Badr Mishel Gama’an al-Harbi) and ‘Abu Juheiman al-Kuwaiti’ (a.k.a. ‘Abu Hajir al-Muhajir,’ who is identified elsewhere as Abdullah Salih al-‘Ajmi, 29, a Kuwaiti jihadist who had been released from America’s Guantanamo Prison in 2005). Al-Harbi is clearly the domineering character (…he’s older, and claims to be a veteran of the jihad in Afghanistan) and it is likely that both al-Harbi and al-‘Ajmi left Kuwait together for Iraq.

Al-Harbi (…who kinda looks like Jack Black, and reveals a good singing voice) rebukes other Iraqi jihadist groups, such as the Islamic Army of Iraq that had turned against the Islamic State of Iraq, for allowing their honor to be desecrated through cooperation with the Americans, adding “we are not from Iraq, but we are Muslims, and we couldn’t sleep” over what was being allegedly done by the Americans on Iraqi soil. Al-Harbi says that it is useless for young Muslims to sit behind the keyboard and that they must flock to the Islamic State of Iraq and fight under its banner since “in it is the nucleus of the Islamic Caliphate on this earth.”

Al-‘Ajmi then takes the microphone and says that ever since he left Guantanamo Prison, where he alleges to have been tortured, he’s been wanting to find a way to reconnect with the jihad. He encourages other jihadists to pledge allegiance to “Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the Commander of the Faithful,” directing his remarks specifically to the Ansar Al-Sunnah jihadist group and tells them that it is not enough to claim to support the Islamic State of Iraq without pledging allegiance to al-Baghdadi.

The camera then captures al-Harbi in his last moments before driving off in a bomb-laden tanker truck saying that even though he owns “a car, a house, two wives, and eight children [back in Kuwait],” he cannot lead his comfortable life knowing that Muslims are being oppressed, and he looks forward to killing Maliki’s “dogs” and to martyrdom. It seems that al-Harbi was responsible for the suicide bombing of the Tel al-Rumman Police Station in Mosul on April 26, 2008 that left six policemen dead.

Al-‘Ajmi, the ex-Guantanamo guy, is seemingly responsible for an earlier truck bombing at the Iraqi Army HQ in the Harmat neighborhood of Mosul on March 23, 2008 that left 13 Iraqi soldiers dead and 30 injured, including 12 civilians. At least six of the dead soldiers were from Iraq’s Yezidi minority.

Today, there was another suicide bombing targeting a police station in Mosul that left scores dead and injured. I wonder if today's terrorist was yet another Kuwaiti or Saudi that had been released from Guantanamo...

I'm wondering about one thing in your report where you write al Ajim seemingly conducted the March 23, 2008, suicide bombing in Mosul. The differs with the Pentagon verifying al Ajmi was one of 3 Kuwaitis who conducted suicide bombings in Mosul during the last week in April. Perhaps you would contact contact me through my web site to clarify this. The address is in the sidebar there.

I believe that Bill Roggio covered your question very well. The video suggests that the suicide bomber at the Harmat Apartments HQ was al-'Ajmi. This bombing occured on March 23, 2008. The video also incorporates Roggio's photos from the scene as evidence of the aftermath of the bombing, again confirming that it is the March 23, 2008.

At least one of the April bombings (the Umm al-Rumman one) was conducted by the other Kuwaiti in the video, al-Harbi.

Hope this clarifies things. The Pentagon has been known to get things mixed up in the past.